Kalle

Loved the discussion but I did walk away with the feeling that it would be tough to care about this game if you aren't already familiar with the people and the personal conflicts of the US civil war.

Well, good work. You got me to reinstall Three Kingdoms. I don't think I've played since the first expansion came out so it's been a while. The talk of added bugginess concerns me a bit but I figure I'll manage. One downside to Three Kingdoms is that with a significant portion of the fan base in China most of the mods for the game are in Chinese. From my POV this makes it a lot harder to do what I do in Total Warhammer where I just find mods to shape the gameplay into what I want it to be. In 3K it's harder to figure out what mods I want and what they actually do because of the language barrier between the fan communities.

You made me reinstall Unity of Command 2. The game does not pull any punches at all and my skills are very rusty. My rough experience is my own fault for not wanting to turn down the difficulty I suspect.

No, I think it needs to be pretty narrow before you get that. There's also an achievement for winning with one vote that I noticed. I've had a couple of playthroughs. If you do get it through the assembly the next step is getting it past the supreme court. Which is also challenging but it's a different kind of political challenge.

Like Rob this game is definitely going on my best-of-year list. I've played it through twice. The first time I met with utter disaster. The second time I was all like, I know how to overcome this disaster and instead met with another utter disaster. It is the best game about politics I have ever played because it does so much to humanise the players in the political system. It lets you know where they are coming from and what compromises can be made and where people can get their hands dirty or where they will draw the line. And It never feels railroaded, which is a crazy achievement considering how many directions the game can have you take your republic.

Hearing "This game is great in singleplayer but sucks in multiplayer" could just be short-handed to "This game is great".

I've played TW since Shogun 1. I just happen to have an enduring fandom for Warhammer fantasy since my teens so I really do care about the fates of the various nations in the Old World. I just have zero context for what is happening in Han China.

Any suggestions on the best way to get into the Three Kingdoms? I ask because I feel like my complete lack of familiarity with the characters is really hurting my enjoyment of a game I otherwise think is the best Total War game mechanically. I just don't care at all about Liu Bu while I find myself deeply invested in the fated of Karl Franz and Tyrion.

You can hold space bar to move further?! No, I didn't read the manual Rob. One thing about the bridges is that I would start pushing my armor units on mad dashes across country to move up to the next bridge. Either to be able to repair blown bridges next turn or to put a unit next to a working bridge to prevent the enemy destroying it.

Like so many other rules heavy board games I remain envious of people who have three friends who are willing to put in the effort to learn these games and play with them.

Hearing that none of you played Outcast breaks my heart a little. The game broke new ground everywhere pushing boundaries in technology and game play. It didn't always succeed but its one of the most important action adventure games of its time. It had an symphonic orchestra soundtrack (and a damn good one) to evoke a cinematic experience in an age when game music had only just begun to explore the possibilities of CD:s. The voxels let them build huge lush worlds to explore with the best water I had ever seen. It was open world before anyone knew what open world games could be. In these huge levels you had rideable mounts. You could place teleport markers(!) to travel instantly between spots at will. You did quests for villagers to build support in a region and that would in turn weaken enemy troops there. Hello ubigame. Causing chaos and destruction would in-game narratively punish you by having weapon vendors raise prices. They even made an entire web series of cinematic outtakes.